AEW star Lance Archer says Chris Jericho discusses ratings with wrestlers
AEW wrestler Chris Jericho is seen by many as one of the driving forces behind the early success of All Elite Wrestling since the company's inception almost 18 months ago.
Ahead of Saturday's All Out pay per view, AEW has seen recent success in the television ratings, specifically the coveted 18-49 demographic, something which Chris Jericho's on-screen character is keen to take credit for.
During a recent interview with the Busted Open podcast, AEW wrestler Lance Archer was asked if Chris Jericho was a locker room leader in AEW and someone who discusses the AEW Dynamite ratings with talent.
Archer said that while Chris Jericho isn't over the top about viewership numbers as his on-screen character, the wrestling legend will inform talent about ratings if they have a private conversation with him:
"I think if you had your own personal conversation with him, yeah, absolutely. It's not a situation where we're not all coming together and meeting going, 'ra ra ra ra ra' and here we are and whatnot because everybody's very focused on doing the very best that they can on what they got and what they have on the show. If you need to speak to him or anybody that has that information, he'll absolutely let you know and keep you addressed with what's going on and what needs to be done. He absolutely is one of those locker room leaders, when you start talking about it that way," (H/T Wrestling Inc)
AEW Dynamite's recent Saturday ratings success
Due to the recent NBA Playoffs that are currently being broadcasted on TNT in AEW Dynamite's regular Wednesday time slot, recent episodes of Dynamite have been moved to various days of the week.
One example of this is AEW Dynamite taking place on Saturday, August 22, as opposed to Wednesday, August 19. Despite a slight drop in viewership, AEW Dynamite still drew a good rating, which WarnerMedia was 'extremely happy' with.
In fact, AEW Dynamite ranked fifth in the top 5 cable shows in the 18-34 demographic, giving TNT three of the top five shows on that Saturday night, along with the two NBA playoff games.
Lance Archer discussed the success of the Saturday AEW Dynamite viewership despite the challenging circumstances that the schedule provided as well as the NBA Playoffs game running long:
"I think it was a test to the crew, the talent, and everybody that helped just push and promote it because we never let down our fans who are absolutely dedicated to watching the product. It was awesome. We never let them know or not let them know that it was coming up,"
"Even though the time that the game was going on and we weren't going on right at six o'clock, everybody kept pushing it and promoting it and working together to let our fans know, 'Hold on, it's coming. Hold on its coming.' So, as soon as it came on, and everybody was saying alright it's on. Turn it in and watch now, our fans were right there with us. It was awesome."
Lance Archer will compete at AEW All Out this Saturday in the 21-man Casino Battle Royale. The winner of the battle royale will receive a future AEW World Championship opportunity.